Psoriasis is a long-term skin condition, and some people with psoriasis later develop psoriatic arthritis, which causes pain, swelling, and stiffness in the joints. Finding ways to prevent this progression is an important goal.
In this study, we looked at almost 400 people with psoriasis who were treated with different types of biological medicines over a period of up to 17 years. None of the participants had arthritis when they started treatment. We compared how often people developed psoriatic arthritis while receiving different biological treatments.
We found that people treated with medicines that target the immune proteins IL-17 or IL-23 were less likely to develop psoriatic arthritis than those treated with medicines that target TNF. These findings were consistent across several different analyses designed to test the reliability of the results. We did not find meaningful differences between the non-TNF treatments.
Because this was an observational study, it cannot prove that one treatment directly prevents arthritis. However, the results suggest that the choice of biological treatment for psoriasis may influence the future risk of developing psoriatic arthritis.
Further studies, including prospective clinical trials, are needed to confirm whether some biological treatments can help prevent psoriatic arthritis in people with psoriasis and to identify which patients are most likely to benefit.